Morley Mission - People & Events

People and
Events

Over the course of its existence, many influential people were, in one way or another, associated with the Morley Mission.

Stoney Chief Jacob Bearspaw was present when

the plans for the Morley Mission were made and expressed his concerns for the future. To him, the mission would provide support for his suffering people.

Walking Buffalo, or George McLean, was adopted as young boy by Rev. John McLean and enrolled in the Morley residential school. Considered one of the most famous students of John McDougall, he later became an influential Stoney Chief, philosopher, founding member of the Buffalo Nations Cultural Society and an active member in the Indian Association of Alberta.

George McDougall was one of the most vocal advocates for the Morley Mission and lived to see the mission's establishment in 1873, However, he died near the site only a few short years later. While on a buffalo hunt in 1876, McDougall perished during a blizzard, presumably from heart failure and exposure. He was buried in the Wesley Band cemetery near Morley. Concerning the tragic death, McDougall's son John recalled years later:

A half-breed who was not with us in the search had, while out hunting buffalo, come upon father's lifeless body. He had put him on his sleigh and taken him back to camp and sent us word. The kind native Indian woman had spread her shawl over the lifeless form. When I lifted the shawl and saw the position in which he had frozen I felt whatever may have happened to father toward the last he was conscious and feeling that death was upon him he had picked a spot as level as he could and laid himself out, limbs straight and hands folded. 'Just like him,' I said, 'even as he had lived so he died, thinking about others.'

His face was perfectly natural and there seemed to be an expression upon it of a conscious satisfaction. Reverently we lifted him and laid him on our sleigh and solemnly started that Sunday afternoon on our homeward journey. Camping that night thirty miles from home we reached the mission the next day. Fortunately we had as our mission teacher at this time Dr. Verey. Having examined the body he could discover no clue as the cause of death. My own theory is that some affection of the heart or brain so acted upon him that he became unconscious of his surroundings, otherwise I can not explain how he became lost."

Citation Sources
McDougall, John. Opening the Great West: Experiences of a Missionary in 1875-76. Calgary: Glenbow-Alberta Insititute, 1970.